RI Authors Showcase - Meet Michael Fine

Nov 9

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Welcome to the Rhode Island Authors Showcase! Each day in November, this blog will feature a different Rhode Island author. Read the post and leave a comment and you are eligible to win this day’s giveaway!

Leave a comment every day this month for over 30 chances to win either our Grand Prize (a $250 Amazon gift card), our Bonus Prize (a $100 Amazon gift card), or a Cheer-Up Prize (amount to be determined), just in time for holiday shopping!

A winner will be randomly selected one week after the publication of the blog post, and the Grand Prize and Bonus Prize winners will be randomly selected on December 7, 2021. For the daily giveaways, the author will contact you directly to coordinate delivery. Print books for delivery within the US only, please.

Michael Fine, MD, is a writer, community organizer, and family physician. He is the chief health strategist for the City of Central Falls, Rhode Island, and is probably best known locally as the former Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, 2011–2015. He is currently the Board Vice Chair and Co-Founder of the Scituate Health Alliance. He is the recipient of the Barbara Starfield Award, the John Cunningham Award, and the Austin T. Levy Award.

His non-fiction books include The Nature of Health (2007), The Zero Calorie Diet (2010), Health Care Revolt (2018), and Medicine as Colonialism (coming in 2022).

But he also writes fiction! Here's what people have said about his novels:

"Dr. Michael Fine’s novel, Abundance, is a riveting, suspenseful tale of love, violence, adventure, idealism, sometimes-comic cynicism, class conflict and crime – especially war crimes. Dr. Fine expertly moves his narrative back and forth between Liberia and America (mostly New England), using his medical experience, especially in serving the poor, psychological insight and deep knowledge of West Africa to craft a story that displays both the deep disconnect between the First and Third Worlds and our commonalities. I should add that the rescue mission that’s at the heart of the story would make one hell of a movie." -- Robert Whitcomb, GoLocal24.com columnist, editor of newenglanddiary.com and former finance editor of the International Herald Tribune and former editorial page editor of The Providence Journal.

"The Bull and other stories, Rhythmic with a jazz cadence, poignant ,timely and timeless, vivid detail but above all Michael Fine is a storyteller and a damn good one at that." -- Bert Crenca, Artist, Founder of AS220

Rhode Island. A tiny little state with more stories than people. Hopes and dreams, sicknesses, deaths and disappointments. Loves and heartbreaks. Some of us trying to repair the world. Others overwhelmed by the beauty of the world as it is. All in one place, becoming one people. What democracy looks like.

Bill Harley, the singer, songwriter, storyteller, and poet says this about Rhode Island Stories: "Michael Fine knows Rhode Island's people and places. He also knows what makes a good story. In this fine collection, he captures the hopes, dreams, fortunes, and foibles of people across our quirky little state. You'll find someone you know here - maybe even yourself."

And Maria Bueno, Executive Director of Progresso Latino, writes, "Dr. Fine peers into the ordinary lives of everyday people in his short stories that ask the question what if or why not. In my personal life and the multiple roles I play I often get lost in my own story fixated about the here and now without contemplating the bigger picture. When you read Dr. Fine’s short stories they may also nudge you to think about your own life and what you can do to make this world a better place. This is a great read for those who are interested in stories placed in Rhode Island. For me the images of Rhode Island come alive in his stories and I believe they’ll resonate for you too."

He also publishes one new short short a month on RINEWSToday (www.rinewstoday.com) and sends out one free short story a month. You can subscribe to get a short story a month on http://michaelfinemd.com.

Michael has generously offered to gift a copy of Rhode Island Stories to one lucky winner. Just leave a comment below telling us what state in the US you have never visited but are hoping to get to one day.